Lille, Lyon earn Champions League qualification as Nice face relegation play-off

May 17 : Lille and Lyon were beaten on the final day of the Ligue 1 season on Sunday but qualified for the Champions League next term, while Nice face a relegation play-off against Saint-Etienne and the fixture between Nantes and Toulouse was abandoned.  

Champions Paris St Germain lost 2-1 across the road at local rivals Paris FC and second-placed Lens thumped Lyon 4-0 to finish their campaign in style, with Marseille sealing a place in the Europa League after they beat Rennes 3-1.

Nice, who play in the Coupe de France final against Lens on Friday, must now face second-tier Saint-Etienne in a two-legged play-off to remain in Ligue 1 next season after they finished in 16th place.  

Lille lost 2-0 at home to relegation-threatened Auxerre to ensure the safety of the latter with Lassine Sinayoko on the scoresheet twice for the visitors.

Wesley Said scored a brace as league runners-up Lens ran riot, leaving Lyon in danger of dropping out of the top four.  

But Marseille’s 3-1 defeat of Rennes saw them leapfrog the latter into fifth place and qualify for the Europa League next season, at the same time ending Rennes’ hopes of a top four finish as they ended in sixth.   

Goals from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Amine Gouiri and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang sealed the impressive win for Marseille.

PSG lost at their local rivals, a result made worse by a first-half injury to Ousmane Dembele ahead of the Champions League final against Arsenal on May 30.

Nice have been in Ligue 1 since the 2002-03 season and needed a win over bottom side Metz and for other results to go their way to move out of the bottom three.

Neither happened as they were held to a 0-0 draw, which coupled with Auxerre's win at Lille and a 2-0 success for Le Havre at Lorient meant